Top Ten Nintendo Characters

The Top Ten

1LinkLink refers to several different incarnations of the same protagonist of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series.

Okay so link is better than mario in several ways one is that unlike mario or any of the Nintendo characters link actually ages in the gaming franchise.

Well not exactly aging but there are different aged links with there own set of games. You can't honestly say you like seeing the same middle aged plumber for the last almost 30 years. Also who would you prefer playing asA sort of elf soldier with a pure motive to go through various dungeons and forest etc. Or a plumber who for some reason not only saves a princess through the same platform but also who knows why go kart races plays several crazy sports and all this other crazy stuff with annoying characters. Speaking of characters of the legend of zelda are unlike mario fun to interact with-ish throughout the games. Mario birdo a I don't even know, characters that have racial stereotypes and stupid morons like waluigi wario etc.

Whoa whoa, slow down there. If you seen Yoshi's island, in theory, baby Mario IS the present day Mario. - Nick-brick8

Arrg! I had to go with Link! He deals with a lot more threatening enemies and handles a lot more deadly weapons than Mario. Link has a much better story, which actually changes from game to game! Link has an actual back story and his soul role in Hyrule is not to just save the Princess. Also we know Mario never gets anything from Peach, but we don't really know this about Link and Zelda.

I kind of hate myself for defending this, but I have to go with what is right. I'm not going to go for who founded Nintendo, but who refined Nintendo. - masongilbert74

I have so many reasons why Link deserves to be number 1!

Firstly, Link has a very interesting story. Usually, he is seen without any relatives and his past is shrouded in mystery. However, his future is definate- to defend ALL kingdoms, not just his own.

Secondly, Link endures much more than Mario. Gibdos, Redeads, Ganon, Yuga and so much more! Little mushrooms and turtles are hardly as deadly as those!

Thirdly, he is determined to do more than he has been assigned to do; he does side quests to help people. He does more than just help the princess like Mario. In fact, that's usually what Mario ONLY does! I'm not saying Mario is bad. He's such a loveable character! But I think Link deserves just as much glory, if not more.

Link is such a courageous hero- always willing to sacrifice his own safety and comfort for the sake of others. He goes through much more grief than our other Nintendo heroes. Link, the Hero of Time, The Hero of Twilight, The Chosen Hero, ...more

Not only are the games he's featured in are better than other nintendo characters, he makes sense, compared to the other nintendo characters at least, he ages, there are many reincarnations of him, his life routine isn't run through kingdoms in a plumber suit and take down a dinosaur thing he's killed 100 times already. I like mario and the other nintendo characters but link is easily the best. - Tisme_draGON

2MarioMario is the main character in the Mario Bros. Franchise, who was created by the creative director and video game designer at Nintendo of Japan, Shigeru Miyamoto. Mario has appeared in almost every Mario Game, including spinoff series, as a playable character, with few exceptions including New Super ...read more.

Mario deserves it. Even if he's overrated, he is an Italian developed by Japanese who speaks English and looks like a Mexican. That's a lot of world heritage. He has been in games since 1981 and has had amazing titles like Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario Land, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Sunshine. WOW. In addition to that he's a fighter, golfer, partyer, doctor, and construction worker. Also, Mario was Nintendo's first recognizable video game character and is the most famous, popular, and well known video game character of all time. Mario's main color is red, and that's color better than green. Link's game are harder and more unique, but Mario stops at nothing to save Peach. He traversed the Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario Bros., went through 15 worlds like volcanoes, the sky, deeserts, mountains, and even a snowy land to save her, and went across the entire galaxy and several different planets to save Peach and the galaxy. HE'S THE BEST! ...more - bubbles1111

Mario is Underrated, Don't believe me? Find some Defences for the Mario is Mental Theory and for Luigi - ToadF1

Yeah we know that Link has a more challenging gameplay with a deep storyline which changes but the gameplay is pretty much the same throughout (adventure, fighting)

At least Mario has a variety of games (NOT JUST SAVING THE PRINCESS) For example RPG in paper Mario, Racing in Mario Kart, Sports in Mario tennis, Golf, Baseball, Strikers, Sportsmix, Partying in Mario Party, Platforming in Galaxy and Sunshine

While most people generally push Mario to the corner and write him off as a "vanilla protagonist" or a "Jack of all trades character", I believe Mario is actually quite special. Constantly demonstrating feats of Super human strength and acrobatic prowess, Mario is the ideal platforming character and quite the brawler on top of that. What he lacks in speed he makes up for in strength, being capable of picking up a ENTIRE CASTLE or swinging Bowser around by his tail.

Not to mention Mario's sheer level of determination and bravery is something to be admired, Mario has traveled all across the globe and beyond to save Princess Peach from the clutches of the evil king Bowser... on a near weekly bases. This man has guts too, he's brave to enter Bowser's Dark Matter Plant despite the high risk of being DISINTEGRATED BY DARK MATTER. (If Mario does fall into the dark matter, the death animation is the stuff of nightmares... yet he is still willing to enter the plant ...more - NintendoFan364

Mario is my favorite video game icon ever he's the coolest and best and I believe there should a new animated show about him called super Mario show hosted by Charles martainet with episodes based on popular movies like superman lord of the rings Jurassic park justice league power rangers and the scorpion king with highly stylized animation and it would be so cool

3KirbyKirby is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Kirby series of video games owned by Nintendo and HAL Laboratory. His first game was created in 1992, and the pink puffball has made his way into the hearts of fans of all ages.

He may be just a little pink blob with feet and a face, but he's a force to be reckoned with. He EATS HIS ENEMIES. WHOLE. HE SUCKS THEM IN AND SWALLOWS THEM AND ABSORBS THEIR ABILITIES. You have to respect that.

Kirby vs. Mario. Here goes, Mario trys to jump on Kirby, but Kirby just moves out of the way, and again, again, again, again, and again. Kirby, then sucks up Mario and spits him off the cliff. The End.

Or Mario shoots a fireball at Kirby, he eats it then explodes. Jumping isn't Mario's only power. - Katekat123

Kirby KICKS ASS AND WOULD KILL EVERYONE IF HE WANTED TO!

Kirby is easily one of the best Nintendo characters. He's cute, deadly, simple, and pink.

4YoshiYoshi, once romanized as Yossy, is a fictional anthropomorphic dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo.

He's been my favorite Mario character forever. My best Mario related character in all of the Super Smash Bros games as well. Ranked 6 in Brawl (Behind Olimar, Lucas, Ike, Lucario, and Diddy Kong), Ranked 1 in Melee, and Ranked 2 in the first one (Behind Link). I also use him in Mario Party and Mario Kart games. - ethany

Yoshi is my favorite Nintendo Character. While many characters come close, I have always enjoyed yoshi for his unique traits like eating almost anything. Link and Kirby are also some of my favorites, but I enjoy Yoshi the best.

I love yoshi he's the coolest little dino you will ever see - decorulez97

Yoshi is a dinosaur. What else is a dinosaur? A T-Rex. Yoshi is green. What else is green? Hulk. Yoshi eats animals. Who else eats animals? Kirby. So Yoshi is a combination of T-Rex, Hulk, and Kirby. So Yoshi is God.

5Samus AranSamus Aran is the protagonist of the Metroid science fiction action-adventure game series by Nintendo.

Samus should go more higher because her games are at the level of Link and Mario and she have one of the greatest stories of all the Nintendo characters. Come on she at least have to be at top 3!

Samus is an absolute beast come on, she deserves much better than top twelve. At least up in the top five as one of the absolute most amazing characters ever, excellent background, helps bridge the sexist gap, and kicks ass come on.

Samus is one of the greatest characters Nintendo has ever made! The fact that she is all the way in 11th place is a crime! Please vote her higher!

Samus is so hot I wake up sometimes with whipped cream in my bed after dreaming about her

6LuigiLuigi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by prominent game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the slightly younger but taller fraternal twin brother of Nintendo's mascot Mario, and appears in many games throughout the Mario ...read more.

Luigi is awesome. Yeah mario is good, but Luigi can get the job done for certain. He gets sent on secret missions to collect stars and barely gets any credit. He deserves much more credit. I like his ice flower powers, I find he gets the job done no problem. Luigi for the win - dragonfly99

I find Link, Mario and Yoshi a tiny bit overrated (no offense). Luigi deserves more credit than he is given. I don't mind the others but Luigi needs to win this. GO LUIGI

7Donkey KongDonkey Kong is an arcade game released by Nintendo in 1981. It is an early example of the platform game genre, as the gameplay focuses on maneuvering the main character across a series of platforms while dodging and jumping over obstacles.

Donkey kong is the best he has the best 2d games ever! But zelda has the best 3d he doesn't get enough games and my brother thinks he is a bad guy from mini land mayhem stupid mario and zelda games getting put out every year while starfox and donkey kong and kirby and thousands of others are left on the side lines

Donkey Kong is just awesome. His games are challenging and fun, so fun that I actually convinced a guy who didn't want Tropical Freeze, and now he does want it! He definitely deserves to be on the top 3 and deserves more games.

One Of The Original Characters Of Nintendo And So Low? Definitely top 3 - copkiller

Ever since I witnessed Fox in action on the N64 when I was little he has been my hero. It is very odd given that I love "castle related" games and (for the most part) hate "space" games. I have waited for a new Starfox game ever since Starfox Command for the DS. However, they do not seem forthcoming with another adventure any time soon, and should Nintendo disband this EPIC franchise I will never buy from Nintendo again.

Fox has kicked ass ever since the SNES. While they are making 5,000 Zelda games, people fail to realize that they should be making A KICK ASS starfox game

Mashiro Sakurai (did I spell his name right? ) Made Starfox, then more or less left Nintendo, leaving Fox at the mercy of Mr. Miyamoto, who seems to much prefer games of his own realization.

Fox is awesome. He deserves more credit and I wished he would be a DLC character in Mario Kart in the future, like Link and the Animal Crossing characters (and later the Inkling kids from Splatoon) did in Mario Kart 8/Deluxe.

9PikachuPikachu are a species of Pokémon, fictional creatures that appear in an assortment of video games, animated television shows and movies, trading card games, and comic books licensed by The Pokémon Company, a Japanese corporation.

10PitPit is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Kid Icarus series, first appearing in Kid Icarus for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986 and later appearing in Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters for the Game Boy in 1991.

He's like, Samus, Link, and Mario combined! And he's cute and friendly like Kirby too! It's hard not to love this guy, especially with him cracking jokes and being optimistic all the time! And I agree with the former comment, he would be the best character for Link to team up with. THAT, would be a game I would buy!

Pit is a strong character. He has vast collection of weapons to beat down powerful other characters. He should even team up with Link. With their power and courage together they can beat almost anyone!

Don't hate on Pit just because his game has 'bad controls! ' He has so much character, so much spirit; what's not to love? This angel needs more games, so more people can see just how amazing he is. Stay awesome Pit, and remember everyone; Floor ice cream gives you health!

I'm not gona lie iv'e never herd of pit but the dude looks like a mad Player

The Newcomers

The Contenders

11Princess ZeldaPrincess Zelda is a fictional character in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda video game series, created by Shigeru Miyamoto and introduced in its original entry in 1986.

Zelda is really strong and you don't want to mess with her. Unlike peach, Zelda is tricky and has fire, arrows, mind powers, love spells, teleport, light powers, and can turn into her ego, Sheik, (a ninja that is sneaky). Don't tell me Peach is stronger than that. The only reason she won death battle was cheating by using that mega strike power that Mario also has that he could've defeated Sonic with.

Way better than peach she does not just get kidnapped. She can help link in most of his battles against ganon. Unlike peach who just goes help me Mario. She is powerful as we'll she was able to help link turn ganondorf to stone in wind waker and both link and Zelda were only like 11. She is awesome defiantly best video game princess of all time

The only secondary character on this list besides Luigi! And there's a reason for that. Unlike most princesses, she's a badass. She can double as a ninja, she is smart, considerate, and cute, to be honest. She'll fend for herself, as shown in The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure. #3 under Link and Luigi.

Zelda's even stronger than Samus because she has supernatural powers. Samus relies on power suits to win.

12Meta KnightMeta Knight is a fictional character from the Kirby series of video games owned by Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.

Meta knight is the best. The best aspect about him is that you never know if he good or bad. In Kirby superstar ultra, Meta knight tries to rule dreamland with the halberd, and also in Meta Knightmare ultra, he saves dreamland! He flies the coolest ship ever, that can destroy Dyna Blade, Kirby's warp star, Star fox's ship, and any other ship that is thrown at it. In super smash bros brawl, he is a good guy also, and is so mysterious that you just have to love him. No one knows why he has the mask except to hide his face, and no one knows how he messed up his face. Meta knight is the most dark and mysterious villain/hero of all Nintendo, possibly ever, and flies the coolest ship in the universe. Bang.

Meta Knight is rich and a warrior like Birdo from Mario. Meta Knight and Birdo are the best Nintendo characters. If I had Meta Knight come to my house, (not a hobo in a meta knight costume), a real meta knight, I would give up anything but life and family and nutrients.

Meta Knight is just plain EPIK! I mean, he's about the size of Kirby, but with a few extra features. For one, he has bat like wings that let him fly, and glide along the ground if your playing Super Smash Bros Brawl. He has a grayish, sorta silverish mask with a black shape out for his eyes, His eyes are two large, bright, yellow circles. He has a purple, flowing cape that's awesome because I mean, who doesn't look better with a cape?! He also has metallic, purple shoes. But to me, his BEST ever feature is his sword. Long, shining, metallic, golden yellow sword with jagged ends on each side. In Super Smash Bros Brawl, if you are fighting him, in just about 3 to 5 seconds, he can have delivered about 30 slashes and cuts with his sword. Meta Knight is just epik and unbelievable. >:3

Ness is just the kind of guy I would feel safe around. Every victory makes him stronger and in the original games he has some deadly moves like paralysis. most of his moves in ssb are actually Paula's or Poo's so shouldn't they be added to this list too instead of these non-Nintendo character's?

earthbound is by far the best snes game. ness is the main charecter

He's just cute AND awesome! He's strong and adorable! The way he says "Okay." Kills me! I understand why anyone would feel safe around him! He's just SWEET!

I love ness so much every time I say his name I cry and shake also he is sans

15ToadToad, known in Japan as Kinopio, is a major character in the Mario Bros. Franchise. He assists Princess Peach in the Mushroom Kingdom and will do whatever it takes to help her. He first appeared in the classic game, Super Mario Bros. 2 for the USA. Since then he has been a reoccurring character in the ...read more.

An adorable and cute mushroom citizen that who helps heroes. He is amazingly nice as you could see him. See so helpful, full of friends who awaits him to help them too. Not because his little his weak, no. He's strong and clearly loyal to his friends. I think this the one who could be the winner that is my opinion, thank you

Toad is the BEST character ever! He needs to be playable in more games! Nintendo is dropping the ball on this!

Toad is so adorable and Princess Peach treats him more mature than Toadette. Toad is also brave on SSBB for Wii. Peach uses him as attack and he's safe! There is a million duplicates of them and they try to help Mario, Peach, and Pauline. Toads are the 2nd best Nintendo characters under Kirby.

18WarioWario is a character in Nintendo's Mario series who was originally designed as an antagonist to Mario. His motives are driven by greed and he will take the side of whoever will give him the most pay. Although he may seem like just a mean man with no heart, he does have a very tragic past.

Top 10 Greatest Wario Games

Top 1: Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. Over 10/10 stars.

Top 2: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. 10/10 stars.

Top 3: Wario Blast! Featuring Bomberman. 9.8/10 stars.

Top 4: Virtual Boy Wario Land. 9.7/10 stars.

Top 5: Wario World. 9.4/10 stars.

Top 6: Wario Land III. 9.3/10 stars.

Top 7: Wario Land II. 9.2/10 stars.

Top 8: Wario Land: Shake It! 9.1/10 stars.

Top 9: Game & Wario. 9.0/10 stars.

Top 10: WarioWare: Smooth Moves. 8.8/10.

He needs to be number 1 because he's underrated and underappreciated, characters like Link are undeveloped and incomplete to me because of the lack of voice acting but wario is awesome funny and has the best lines in a video game I like yoshi more but Wario needs respect and makes the other 3 plumbers look like a joke

He is the reason almost every game with him in it has "crude humor" in the rating! - anonymous

19JigglypuffJigglypuff, known in Japan as Purin, is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise.

Ever since I got Juggled in SSBB, I stuck with her. Why do people hate her so much? She's cute, like Shy Guy, she's puffy, like Kirby, and PINK my favorite color. The only time I don't like her is in the anime, where she draws on everyone's face when they sleep.

No just no but I don't mind him but there are way better Nintendo characters than him

Without Bowser, Mario would be nothing more than a 40 year old bachelor plumber.

Bowser is the most POWERFUL villain of all time...

I can name better by Nintendo such as a brain-eating amoeba (Metroid), a pterodactyl (Ripley), God of Underworld (Hades from Kid Icarus) and the root of evil itself: Giygas. - shawnmccaul22

How is this example of a classic villain behind his Jacko son? Come on, Bowser was the one that messed Mario all these times. Come on, TheTopTens users! Vote for an excellent representation of a good villain!